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VIRTUALISATION 4G? It's a myth but don't blame the press
VIRTUALISATION 4G? It's a myth but don't blame the press | 4G? It's a myth but don't blame the press |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Friday, 15 May 2009 | |
  
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They are right, and they are wrong: 4G does not exist but the people responsible are neither the press nor those with "little knowledge of the mobile world and the standards being used." On the contrary, they are those who understand this world extremely well. In fact they are responsible for the mobile world and the standards that define it. The guilty parties are the operators and the vendors, and I have the evidence to prove it. Strand's press release continued: "The fact is that there is no 4G standard and that 4G is a phrase that has been invented by journalists and others that are having difficulty explaining the difference between UMTS and LTE...To call LTE 4G is simply misleading and is contributing in moving focus away from the possibilities created by mobile broadband and over to a technological race with nothing else than the number of Gs deciding whether something is good or bad." Spot on, but then Strand errs again by saying: "Our customers, who are mobile operators around the world, do not do business by marketing and selling 1G, 2G, 3G or 4G, they make a living from selling solutions that are valuable to their customers, solutions that can generate enough revenue that they over time will be able to create a profitable business." Strand is wrong because marketing 4G is exactly what the industry is doing, even though they end up selling 3G. In January this year Scandinavian telco, TeliaSonera issued a press release claiming it had signed "the world's first 4G commercial contracts" and would be "First in the world with next generation's mobile broadband." Supplier Ericsson jumped on the same bandwagon. But, as I wrote at the time, http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22685/1095/ "They are both wrong: this is 3G not 4G technology." And I explained that "What TeliaSonera has done is to sign contracts with Ericsson and Huawei for upgrades to its 3G cellular networks to LTE - the Long Term Evolution of 3G cellular. Ericsson has been chosen for the initial rollout out in Stockholm and Huawei for Oslo." It's good to see someone with the authority of a major consultancy saying the same thing. I just wish they would put the blame where it primarily lies not on the press. We don't invent these terms, we rely on those who do to explain what they mean and how they should be used. Those like Strand seeking to set the record straight are a rarity. The same day as I received their press release, I got one from another research firm, Strategy Analytics. It was promoting a Strategy Analytics report "Beyond the Handset - Wireless Consumer Electronics: US Market Forecast," that "identifies up to 20 new device segments in which 3G and 4G wireless technologies will be embedded." It continued: "By the end of 2009, more than half of the 8.4 million consumer electronics devices installed and enabled for 3G and 4G will be consumer notebook PCs. This entire device population of 3G and 4G enabled products will nearly double to 16.6 million in 2010, and continue to expand toward 101 million by 2014." And I'll offer my twopence worth of market forecasting: by the time we reach 2014 the term 5G will be bandied about with the same reckless abandon as 4G is today. |
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